Apparatus for concrete work



A. BICKEL.

APPARATUS FOR CONCRETE WORK.

APPLICATION FILED I'EB.12I 1920.

1,363,304, Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A. BICKEL.

APPARATUS FOR CONCRETE WORK.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 12, 1920.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- lllllllllllllllllllllfl IUIIIIIHIHI A. BICKEL.

APPARATUS FOR C0 NCRETE WORK. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 12, I920.

1,363,304. Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AGKERT BIGKEL, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

APPARATUS FOR CONCRETE WORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

Application filed February 12, 1920. Serial No. 358,300.

. and more eificient method for the laying of concrete pavements, roadways, and similar classes of work requiring the use of concrete materials.

The princip ahobj ect of the invention is the elimination of a considerable portion of the labor which is required by the present method of transporting and the handling of the raw material entering into the concrete and in the mixing of the materials for producing the concrete at the point where the said concrete is tobe deposited. Accordingly, I have devised an improved step in the method of'the handling of the raw concrete materials,which tep consists in the simultaneous transporting and mixing of these raw materials on their way from" the point of supply of said materials to the point of operation or place where the concrete is to be laid.

i make use of a novel form of combined transporting and mixing truck, by the operation of which the material is transported from the raw material supply point to location of the finished product and the raw materials constructed in accordance with the present invention V Fig. 2is a plan view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3--3'of Fig. 1; and 'T" Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged sectional views taken on the lines 4-4: and 5-'5 respectively, of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the said drawings in In the carrying out of the invention, I

detail, these illustrate the proposed form of combined transporting and mixing construction as embodying any ordinary or preferred form of motor truck having the chassis frame 6 with its engine 7, to the crank shaft 8 of which the starter handle 9 is adapted to be applied in the usual man-' ner. In the present construction the starter handle 9 i mounted in a separate bearing frame 10 attached to the front of the truck frame 6 opposite the front end. of the crank shaft 8. This end of the crank shaft is equipped with a suitable sprocket wheel 11 intermediate the end of the truck frame 6 and a bearing 12 provided in the frame 10, this sprocket wheel 11 being'for the purpose of driving a sprocket chain 14 operating around a similar sprocket wheel 15 provided on the front end of a longitudinall extending shaft 16 journaled in bearings 1 depending beneath the truck frame 6.

The longitudinal shaft 16 extends, well toward the rear end of the truck where it is provided with a pair of spaced sprocket wheels, namely, a small sprocket wheel'1 8 and a larger sprocket wheel 19 'both of which are arranged to drive a pair of sprocket chains 20 operating around a pair of sprocket wheels 21 and 22 'onajack shaft 23 mounted in bearings 24 projecting upward from the truck frame 6. The sprocket wheel 22 is of relatively small size, driven from the sprocket 19, while the sprocket wheel 21 is a larger wheel driven from the sprocket wheel 18. Mounted slidingly upon the shaft 23 between the sprocket wheels 21 and '22 is a clutch element 25, provided with a suitable shifting lever 26, movable along a segment'27, whereb the clutch element 25 (which is keyed to t e shaft 23, as shown in Fig. 5) may be clutched with either the sprocket wheel 21 or the sprocket wheel 22, for drivin the shaft 23 from either the sprocket w eel 18 or the sprocket wheel 19 respectively.

Near its rear end, the shaft 23 is provided with a gear pinion 28, meshing with a gear ring 29 which isecured to the exterior of a mixing drum 30, adapted for the mixing of the concrete materials therein, in any well known manner. with cylindrical end portions 31 adapted to be supported in roller bearing frames 32 at the opposite ends of said drum, for whicht m purpose said frames are provided with rollers 33 for supporting engagement with This drum 30 is formed the said cylindrical end portions of the drum. This form of mixer does not require any tilting mechanism for discharging its contents, but is provided with interior means (not shown) adapted to be moved into operative position for ejecting the contents of the drum while the rotation of the latter is continued.

It is ordinary practice in concrete work, such as is contemplated herein, to unload the various materials required, such as crushed stone, sand and cement, at what may be termed the supply point of the materials for any one particular ob, from which point the materials are separately hauled by trucks or other means to the point Where the concrete is to be laid, Where a mixer is located for the purpose of mixing the materials into the form .of concrete. Here the separate materials are dumped upon the grade in advance of the mixer, after which the materials are shoveled into wheelbarrows by means of which they are brought up to the mixer and dumped thereinto and subjected to its mixing operation. With the average speed of operation this mixer is required to operate for about the space of a minute, after which the mixed material is dumped out onto the grade as concrete. By this ordinary method it will thus be seen that there is required several distinct operations in the consecutive handling of the materials, namely, the dumping of the materials at the common supply point; the reloading of such materials at the supply point onto trucks or the like for transportation to the point where the concrete is to be laid; again picking up the-materials and Wheeling the same in the required proportions to the mixer; and finall the mixing of the material and discharging the same to the grade.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present method involves the loading of the materials in the required proportions directly into the mixing apparatus at the point of supply of said material. The mixing operation then takes place in its entirety during the interval that the materials are being transported from the common supply point to the point of operation or discharge of the finished product as concrete onto the grade which is to be paved. In the means shown for the embodiment and practice of the invention it is seen that the power utilized for the operation of the mixing device is derived from that employed for the operation of the truck whereby the product is conveyed to the point of discharge. It is obvious that this method eliminates the mixer which'is ordinarily located on the grade where the concrete is deposited. At the same time a great and important economical advantage is efiected by reason of the fact that a longer time is allowed for time that the material is being transported to the discharge point. Again, it is evident that an economical gain enters into the present method because of less power being actually required for effecting the mixing operation due to this operation being carried over a longer period of time than is allowed for the same operation as ordinarily carried out; that is to say, the mixing device may be rotated at a materially lesser speed when the time for its operation is spread out over the interval required for the transportation of the materials from the supply point to the job. For the reason that this distance may vary somewhat, the speed changing means is introduced into the construction as above described, it being evident that the mixing device when driven from the sprocket wheel 18, will be rotated at a greater speed than when it is driven from the sprocket wheel 19 as will be readily understood.

I am aware of the fact that mixers have been mounted upon trucks supplied with an engine for both rotating the mixer drum and also to intermittently shift the truck from one point to another on the grade as the work proceeds of depositing or laying the concrete. In this case, however, the power of t e apparatus is used solely for the operation of the mixer and intermittently shifting the position of the mixer as the work progresses; there is no operating of this type of apparatus for primarily transporting the raw materials from the source of supply, such supply having always been brought to the mixer by some other means of transportation. I believe it to be .entirely new to mount a mixing device upon a truck which is devoted primarily to the transporting of the materials from the point of supply to the point of the deposit. of the concrete material, the power of which truck is used secondarily for the rotation of the mixer drum in mixing the materials en route to the point where the concrete materlal is to be deposited. The advantages of such a method and apparatus for carrying out the same are material and important both as regards the saving of labor and of time and the elimination of the heavy and expensive. form of mixer now employed upon the ground of operation, and while I have illustrated and described what I now regard as a preferred mode for practising said invention, I desire to reserve the right to make such changes as may fairly fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

-1. A road-making apparatus comprising aseasce 'a motor truck, a mixing device on said truck for mixing the road-making materials, and power transmitting mechanism connecting the truck motor and said mixing device for driving the latter during the transit of said truck.

2 A concrete laying apparatus comprising a motor truck operating to transport the materials composing the concrete from the point of supply of the unmixed materials to the point of deposit of the mixed materials, a, mixing device for receiving the materials at the point of supply, and power transmitting mechanism between the truck motor and said mixing device for driving the latter during the transit of the truck between said points.

3. A concrete laying apparatus comprising a motor truck operating to transport the materials composing the concrete from the point of supply of the unmixed materials to the point of deposit of the mixed materials, a mixing device carried by said truck for receiving the materials at the point of supply, and variable-speed power transmitting mechanism between the truck motor and said mixing device and operative to drive the latter at different rates of speed during the transit of the truck between said points. r

In witness whereof I hereto afix my signature.

AOKERT BIOKEL, 

